twocents's Profile
Casa Jimenez (former El Taco Zamorano Taqueria) - - my beloved carnitas are back in Oakland!!
Have you been to the El Taco Zamorano restaurant on Foothill at 41st, or the taco truck on International by Santo Coyote? Are these related to your El Taco Zamorano Taqueria?
I had carnitas at the restaurant last month and thought they were pretty good. They looked similar to the ones in your pic, perhaps not quite as seared all over, though that was clearly the intent.
foie gras in Berkeley / Oakland
I had their prep with duck breast and miso sauce which I thought quite good. Worth a shot.
Souk Savanh Restaurant, lao and thai cuisine
Been here half adozen times since they became souk savanh. First time, i was looking for Black & Silver. Prices have gone up a bit since this post, average more like 6.95. I really enjoy their version of pad kee mao, the chef seasons it well, agressively. Definitely more Lao then Thai, as are many of the places in the area... Chai Thai and Champa. I like the kao piak, chicken noodle better here than at the other two places. Kao poon katee is also tasty. Worth a try. F
SF steakhouses 2011
Went to Alfred's this week for only the second time, the first being years ago. Our group of 5 enjoyed the "Bull Market Special", $40 for a starter, 8oz filet or 14 oz ribeye or NY strip with side, and dessert. We split a couple bottles of an interesting Argentine Cab, very reasonably priced. My ribeye, ordered rare, was perfectly cooked with a great high temperature sear and smoke flavor from the wood grill. I totally agree about the lack of seasoning. The sauces were pretty good, but I particularly liked the pepper sauce (a few small boats were delivered on request). We also had the gnocchi which were pillowy and tasty in a herbed cream sauce.
It wasn't full, so might make a convenient last minute dinner option. I'll certainly think of it again soon.
Anyone ever tried Stinky Tofu?
I think it's certainly true that there's a wide variance in opinion even amongst Taiwanese. I do eat it here myself, and have enjoyed the versions at Spices and at 168, but it's the only thing that consistently turns off the friends that I think of as having adventurous or open palates. This surprised me at first because of the stinky cheese analogy but I've read that the difference is between fermented vegetable matter and fermented animal products. Those Ethnic Chinese that enjoy stinky tofu don't automatically like stinky cheese and vice versa for Westerners.
I've also found that the stinky tofu at the restaurants that I've tried more than once tends to very quite a bit
Best burgers in the Bay Area 2011
I don't think it was temporary; I also had an Acme bun a couple times later last year, well past June. I now think this burger comparable to Mua.
I agree with the 4505 partisans, the cheeseburger at the Ferry Building is a wonderful breakfast.
I also liked a couple variants of the Plum burger, but don't know if I'd recommend it specially at that price point/restaurant style.
Single experience with Chop Bar was positive.
Luka's is definitely not what it once was, but still decent and substantial.
Chez Papa Resto had a good burger for lunch in the past.
best dark roast coffee beans in Berkeley / Oakland area
I forgot to ask if you've tried McLaughlin's Max's Blend (available at Cole). This was my standard French roast I bought consistently for 10 years or so prior to my conversion to third wave city+/full city. I had discovered it as Bette's Blend at Bette's Oceanview. It's been a while, but it was one of the cheaper blends, about $12/lb last I tried. Could be a little uneven, I felt about 1 in 20 batches were over-roasted.
For myself, I've been drinking a lot of De La Paz single origin. The roast quality they achieve in these lighter beans makes me think the darker roasts (their espresso blend) might be very nice indeed. But they will be more expensive, $14-16 per 12 oz.
Best sweet and sour pork - Oakland/Berkeley
Daimo's Sweet and Sour is very tasty. I don't normally order this dish at Chinese, but their's is very nice, no red dye. Pork is fried crispy and stays so for some time; a starch coating rather than heavy breading. Pineapple and red and green bell pepper as the veg.
Breakfast pastries at Boot and Shoe Service [Oakland]
To me, Sightglass is dead-on representative of the 3rd wave coffees that you don't care for as much as the more traditional roasters in your other coffee threads. That's all. But I confess that I don't recall if you've tried or liked them before. Not to hijack the thread but did you end up trying Bicycle coffee? I am liking their medium roast, which has good body and low acidity and they have a darker one.
Breakfast pastries at Boot and Shoe Service [Oakland]
I think they serve (and retail) Sightglass, so definitely not your cup of tea. So to speak.
Honor Bar - Emeryville
Stopped in for a drink the other night, and can confirm that has food but says "21 and over only." The Honor Bar refers to a big tub of bottled beer on ice near the entrance which you can serve yourself from and tell your server or bartender what you've consumed. Food prices seem reasonable, $3.5-10 for snacks and apps, some mains in the $12+ range. Cocktails $10, 10-12 named specialties. $6 "punches." The two I sampled compared well with the programs at Camino and Pizzaiolo/Boot and Shoe, though the latter seem like they have a bit more of a "house made/artisanal" focus.
No doubt I'll check it out further, as I can literally have a drink while waiting for a gel to run or a Western to probe. Not that I do too much of either these days.
Decor dim, dark and red. Vaguely 50's. I like the synthetic stone or whatever the bar is made of.
Please help us get excited about SF again! (a little long)
Well, for those of us long-time residents, it may be overstating it, but to be fair the city still has something of a reputation to live down. Piedmont Ave. and Temescal are one thing, but I think it's still reasonable to describe the Uptown, etc. area of Fox Theater, Plum, Luka's and Flora as "amid the grit." Not to mention that parts of the Viet/Thai/Lao/Central American International Blvd are still high crime areas by any reasonable judgments. One Lao place I've gone to buzzes you in in the evenings. I compare things mentally to how it was when I moved here 20 years ago, but as recently as last summer I was hearing area residents (San Leandro/Hayward, etc) say things like "the only thing bad about Alameda is that you have to go through Oakland to get there" with subsequent conversation clearly indicating that they were only joking a little bit.
The original poster makes an interesting point that maybe SF/Bay Area is not "world class" in the same way as NYC, Barcelona, Paris. But I think the discussion plausibly argues that it's not reasonable to compare them on an apples-to-apples basis. I'd also add that it's probably not desirable to compare them on that kind of basis, either.
Restricted diet, eating out in San Francisco
You may want to give up pan frying, too, as that's on a continuum with charring. It's less, not different.
I suspect some of the dressings, soups and sauces you get have added sugar, even if it's only a teaspoon or two for a pot, since it's an extremely common way to round out flavors, especially if a given component, like tomato, is too acidic. Do you eat tomato? There's another high sugar fruit, even if they're pretty sour sometimes.
Thai Noodle represents sugary, flavorless Americanized Thai food at its worst
With the closure of Ruen Pair, they serve one of the better versions of Boat noodle in the area.
Nombe Bull (Beef) Ramen
Does this mean you think that there's no meat or bone stock to which the miso is added. I believe most miso ramen soups have added miso to the protein based stock.
Spanish and Portuguese cherry liqueurs other than ginjinha (anise flavor present)?
I recently had in Portugal ginjinha (ginja), the sour cherry flavored liqueur. At one of the ginja shops I also had a liqueur that had both cherry and anise flavors, but didn't get the name. Later in Madrid I was also given a couple of pours of a very similar cherry/anise flavored liqueur, described as typical of the region, but again did not get the name. Can anyone tell me what names they might be known as?
Thanks.
When does Ramen Dojo run out of soup?
Do they routinely run out on weeknights?
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Ramen Dojo
805 S B St, San Mateo, CA 94401
Where to get Japanese style bamboo shoots?- "menma"
Looked around the Nijiya market in San Mateo, and the Berkeley Bowl west, but didn't really see anything. I am familiar with Chinese versions in a can or jar, typically with chili oil, but would like some more like the ramen topping. I imagine that they come in a big vacuum pack, refrigerated. Tokyo Fish Market? 99 Ranch in the tsukemono area?
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Berkeley Bowl
2020 Oregon St, Berkeley, CA 94703
Tokyo Fish Market
1220 San Pablo Ave, Albany, CA 94706
99 Ranch
4299 Rosewood Dr, Pleasanton, CA 94588
Good place to buy scotch in the east bay ?
It's been a few years, but Jackson's Wine and Spirits in Lafayette has a good selection, about a 15 min drive from Rockridge. IIRC, I got some independent bottler's offerings there.
lahmajune in the east bay?
I like the Turkish kitchen version.
Also, I think I had some last year at that middle eastern market on Telegraph in the 30's.
Coffee talk: Blue Bottle x2, Stella’s, Bicycle, Jane, Grand Prix, Ma*velous, Creamery, Sightglass plus beans
Just wanted to add, like I intended to, that the full pound of Pura Java was $13!
Coffee talk: Blue Bottle x2, Stella’s, Bicycle, Jane, Grand Prix, Ma*velous, Creamery, Sightglass plus beans
Most of their most direct competitors are in the $12-17 per 12 oz. price range, so yes that is a bit higher. However, on my most recent visits to Intelligentsia, in both Chicago and LA, about 1/3 of their offerings were in the high $20's per 12 oz, say $24-27. I really wonder who's buying this stuff, since it's making even me wince.
I think a lot of it is what the market will bear. I got a full pound of a single-estate roast from Pura Java in Houston... it was not as good as, say, most Ritual or Four Barrel roasts I try, but much cheaper.
Hatch Chiles back
Yeah, must be more a contract thing than anything else. I saw an active roasting operation at a Central Market in Houston on the 21st of August; they even had Hatch chile macarons, which didn't taste much like chiles, but there was a bit of heat on them.
[SF] Hayes Valley Macaron Crawl
Just to update this thread with a little story.
I made it back to Zurich last November as the jumping off point for my Italy vacation (wanted to take the train over the Alps) and made a point of going to the main Sprungli shop again. The displays of luxemburgerli are gorgeous and like other patissiers, they made a point of having some seasonal flavors. I then went to lunch nearby. Halfway through lunch, we were so tired that we just went back to the hotel thinking we'd come back out later in the afternoon... of course did not make it back before they closed. On the train to Milan first thing in the morning. So as yet have not had the famous maker's luxemburgerli, despite coming so close!
B-Dama, Piedmont Ave. Oakland
There is another thread here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/790581
But I am starting another thread titled with the restaurant name, for ease of searching.
As noted in the other thread, this seems to be a new restaurant run by the folks who run Get-A a few blocks away. Where Get-A is sushi/donburi/katsu oriented, B-dama is yakitori and cooked dish oriented, with some sushi and noodles.
There is a fixed listed of perhaps a dozen yakitori variants such as chicken thigh, skin, cartilage, heart and gizzard; pork belly; shishito peppers and some others. Livers were a special the night I went. I ordered everything grilled with sauce, not salt; next time I will order a mix, as some things go better with salt.
I am not an expert on Japanese food, but these tasted good, and similar to a couple of restaurants I went to in Tokyo last month. They were cooking these in the kitchen, so I could not see what kind of arrangement they had.
Tried a couple of the cooked dishes, beef tongue stew and sauced fried pork. Stew was delicious, almost like bouef bourguignone without the red wine. The sauced fried pork was served cool, with a dashi/vinegar/onion faintly spicy sauce. Tasty.
For those who judge by that kind of thing, I note that there were at least two parties of Japanese speakers when I went.
In the old "Sweet Thyme" Catering space next to Messob.
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B-Dama
4301 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611
Any of the good Ramen places open mid to late afternoon?
Thanks. The other food stall is Miyabi-tei. Santouka has no obvious English signage although you can see it in one or two places if you look closely.
Broth was good, though I wasn't wild about the noodles. Although Tokyo has a reputation for high prices, I had a killer miso tonkotsu ramen in Asakusa for about $9 that had way more, better noodles, chashu, and broth. Mind blowing. I also had for $7 a tonkotsu ramen at some kind of cheap chain restaurant that was also better. I know it was a chain cause I kept seeing the same posters in different places in the city.
Just to be clear, it suffers mainly in comparison to the above mentioned restaurants. It was good. A little stingy with the pork.
Some relevant threads:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/798211
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/766937
Ramen in the east bay:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/792443
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/769924
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Santouka
675 Saratoga Ave, San Jose, CA 95129
Any of the good Ramen places open mid to late afternoon?
Have to be in the South bay tomorrow (I rarely go down there from Oakland) and thought it would be an opportunity to try ramen at one of the "good" places down there, having just been back from Tokyo. Catch is it would have to be between 3ish to 5ish at the latest. Would this work at any of the best places?
Thanks.
Best Coffe Places in San Francisco
FWIW, Blue Bottle is an Oakland-based business. I heard that plans to put an outlet in Dolores Park were squashed in part because it wasn't local enough. Don't know how true that is.
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Blue Bottle Cafe
66 Mint St, San Francisco, CA 94103
China Village [Albany]
I also recall it being made from what they called beef belly, though it was not the same as bacon cut. More an alternating lean meat and connective tissue sort of thing.
Berkeley, CA: Bette’s Oceanview Diner
They have been using McLaughlin at least since 1998. I first had Max's there around then and it became my standard coffee for ~11 years. I know we have different tastes. For what it's worth, when I made it myself it was never as bitter and acidic as there or the Royal Coffee cafe- I used an idiosyncratically coarse grind for my drip brewer, and my colleagues who drank coffee all enjoyed it well.
